Customer Reviews

Shore Lights

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There were many characters in this book, too many in my opinion. Something was missing, however; romance. This was an "everyday life" type of book, and while it wasn't boring, it didn't get off the ground either. Also, I like cool heros, and at times Aidan was, but the author gave him lines like "Can it," and "Stow it," when telling someone to be quiet. How utterly UNcool. Even a nerd wouldn't say that!

I have read some of Barbara Bretton's other books, and have enjoyed, but this book was a very different type of story, (not a romance), and it just didn't draw me in.

Everybody has their own background, their own slant as to what will touch their heart. I saw that many people loved this book, but I guess our own experiences shape our interest, and although I loved other Barbara Bretton books, I should have checked out the synopsis before buying.

This is not a romance book, but rather a book that was more about mother/daughter relationships. I always had an excellent relationship with my mother, and so this story did not "talk" to me. I felt myself feeling that Rose was very much at fault, and I kept wanting to tell her off! Since it's a little hard to "tell off" a character in a book, this book left me feeling rather frustrated. Add that I didn't like the whole supranatural theme, and I found myself with very little to enjoy! The only part of the book that I liked was the side story about his wonderful daughter, and I felt that that story really went nowhere.

If you are looking for a book about mother/daughter relationships, check the other reviews, and you will see that this book comes highly recommended. But if you are looking for a romance, you might want to look further.

Sometimes an author takes a risk and it works. Sometimes it doesn't. Ms. Bretton took a risk with SHORE LIGHTS and came up with her best book yet. Don't be fooled by the word ROMANCE on the spine. Yes, there's a sweetly emotional love story between Maddy and Aidan but this is really a story about family, especially about mothers and daughters. Ms. Bretton doesn't write about perfect people in a perfect world. Her characters are so real they almost jump out of the book and sit down at the kitchen table with you and tell you their story. This is a comlex story about real human emotions and I can't sum it all up in 1000 words. But I do know that if you're looking to laugh (lots of witty dialog) and to cry (bring your tissues) and to feel better when you finish than you did when you started, SHORE LIGHTS is the book for you.

This book is so much more than a love story. It is the story of an adult woman's relationship with her mother. It is the story of dealing with past mistakes and inaccurate perceptions, and of strength. It is a story about letting go of a beloved grandmother and seeing the joy within the sadness. It is a book about accepting that some of the greatest loves come with two people who do not meet society's definition of success or perfection,who have their faults and their scars and are loveable anyway. This book caused me to reexamine my relationship with my mother and to relive her death. It was very healing for me to read this book. I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for fiction with substance, and a change from the "fluff" we sometimes read. It is the best of Barbara Bretton!

Maddie Bainbridge grew up in New Jersey with her mother, Aunts, and cousins. She however did not get on with her mother so she moved to Seatle to be with her father and his wife. It has been about 15 years, and she just got laid off, and the father of her 4 year old daughter Hannah ran off to get married to another woman so she decides to take her mother up on a offer to help run a B and B.

Hannah has not had an easy time of moving and so Maddie wants to make their first Christmas in N.J. special. She finds a tea pot on line that Hannah would love, but another person is bidding against her.

Aiden O'Malley is a single dad raising a 17 year old daughter named Kelly. She asked Aiden to bid on the tea pot because it looked like one her great-grandmother Irene had.

Aiden and Maddie start flirting with each other while bidding and then when Maddie gets the tea pot. While he is trying to convince her to sell him the tea pot they start to have feelings for each other.

Things come to a head when Hannah mysteriously gets sick while Aidens grandmother is in the hospital getting ready to die. Hannah survives, but the experience brings the two even closer together.

What happens next is detailed in Chances Are. Another good book by Barbara Bretton

I have enjoyed reading Mrs. Bretton in the past. Her work can bring tears and smiles. BUT I have to say that SHORE LIGHTS was not her best work. I was expecting to read a story about Maddy and Aidan learning to find love again. Maddy and Her mother finding each other again (or maybe for the first time). Sadly I found the start of the book to be really slow and full of tons of information that in truth just took up space. Once the story starts to pick up and all the characters are dealing with all these new feels and learning to trust and love again the story takes a really weird twist. Maddy's daughter is some how connected to Aidans 101 yr.old grandmother and the connection is a Samvar.
I will read Bretton again, but this one will be on my 'miss' list. If the idea of a 101 yr. old women speaking through a four year old by magic powers of the tea pot then you might want to hold out on this one as well.

Maddy Bainbridge and her four-year-old child Hannah leave Seattle to help her mom run the Candlelight Inn in Paradise, New Jersey. Although she has been away from home for fifteen years, Maddy needs work as an accountant and Hannah needs a change of scenery after her father left them and remarried.

Over the Internet, Maddy gets into a bidding war over a dented teapot. She gets the last bid winning the teapot by defeating widow Aidan O'Malley. His teenage daughter wanted the teapot because it is identical to one in a picture her grandma possesses. Aidan sends an email to Maddy to try to purchase the teapot, but she informs him She plans to give it to her daughter as a magic lamp. As they exchange emails, neither knows the identity of the other, but begins to like what they read and perhaps even fall in love just a bit. However, both are afraid to take this out of hyperspace into reality, although neither knows that they have already met at her daughter's pre-school and were attracted to one another.

SHORE LIGHTS is an entertaining Internet romance that provides readers with an interesting thought as to whether the in-person reality can match the email perception. The lead couple is a delight and the support cast adds depth to either of the protagonists though the poor communications between Maddy and her mom seem overly contrived. Still Barbara Bretton bestows a beautiful modern day romance on her audience.

Harriet Klausner

If you are looking for escapism, this is the book for you! The development of characters and story line made this one of the best written books I've read in quite a while. Could hardly put the book down. Have ordered the follow-up book, "Chances Are" on Kindle and can't wait to start reading it tonight.

This portrait of day-to-day living is wound together by a teapot. What a unique way of telling a story!

Another wonderfully written book by Barbara Bretton. The storyline is about a mother (Rose)-daughter(Maddy) relationship that is fraught with misunderstandings and distance. Despite having lived apart for many years now, Maddy moves back to her hometown and takes a job working alongside her mother. The story follows the two women through this transition and we see Rose and Maddy get to know each other once again, partly because of Hannah, Maddy's young daughter. Instead of a romance taking senter stage, the relationship between the mothers and daughters is at the forefront and th romance is slim to none, really. The book was well-written although a bit far-fetched in terms of realism. Maddy and her family are linked with another local family, the O'Malley's, through a teapot and a dying matriarch. There was a bit of supernatural involved with tat part of the story and that detracted from it somewhat, but overall it was a good read and well worth the time.